


Yuukei Tomorrow

by ValhallaTime



Series: Touketsu Project [1]
Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: AU, Absent Parents, Angst, Death, F/M, Friendship, Gen, KagePro AU, Kagerou Songs, Pining, Reverse Personality AU, Romance, Slow-burnish, Song Reversal, TW: Illness, Touketsu Project, Tragedy, anger towards parents, kagepro, reverse au, strict guardians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-21 09:49:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14282322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValhallaTime/pseuds/ValhallaTime
Summary: High school is hard, but a certain girl named Takane is ready to give her all to enjoy every second of it with her best friend!~High school is hard, but a certain boy named Haruka is determined to get through it while not getting driven completely insane by a total idiot.(Reverse!AU Yuukei Yesterday for Touketsu Project)





	1. I Saw The Sun And It Glared At Me

Once upon a rather recent time, there came a certain day.

A normal, ordinary spring day where the air was crisp.

The blue sky was clear as could be, and the sun was beating it's hellish rays onto the earth as if it was summer instead.

And one particular fifteen-year-old girl was running across the hot sidewalk as if her back was on fire and only the bland water from the nearby high school water fountains would be able to douse them.

Her heart was beating a steady thump, thump, thump and her breath coming out ragged. "Hah, hah... j-just... just a bit more... I can still be there on time...!" She checked her watch. 8:25 "Ahhh! This is bad! Bad bad bad!" She yelped in frustration, her raven-colored twin-tails bouncing up and down with every rushed step of her aching legs.

Desperate not to be late, the girl didn't stop her sprint, no matter how her body screamed for rest and her brand new uniform began smelling of sweat.

She had to be there on time; it would do her no good at all to be late for her first day attending high school. She would be branded as 'Enomoto Takane: The Girl Who Never Shows Up On Time' for sure! While it was way better than 'Always Sleepy Takane' (courtesy of her oh-so-nice middle school and elementary classmates) a nickname like that definitely wouldn't help her make any friends.

Takane supposed that the only one to blame for her tardiness would be herself, however; her grandmother  _had_  told her many times not to stay up so late playing all those video games. She winced at the recent memory.

_"But Granny! I just unlocked a bonus level; I might lose my luck if I stop!"_

_"Takane_ , _tomorrow's the first day. You need sleep more than other students, you know that."_

_"I know, I know! It'll be quick I promise! Please?"_

_A hand was brought to an aging forehead in exasperation. "Whatever will I do with you Takane? Fine, but don't come crying to me if you're late tomorrow and your teacher scolds you."_

_"Thanks, Granny!"_

To be fair, the bonus level itself  _had_  been quick... and so was the next one. And the next one - she had lost count after seven. By then her eyes had drooped so far down that she was left snoring on top of the game system. It wasn't even her narcolepsy that knocked her out, but her body's actual need for sleep.

Luckily, her grandmother had already left to go grocery shopping when Takane finally woke up in the morning and wasn't there to berate her any further. (She just left a note saying,  _'I told you so.'_ )

 _I'll apologize to her later_ , Takane grimaced and sped up her run.

Despite how tired and panic-stricken she felt, with the building of the school became clearer and closer, Takane's breathing became a bit more relaxed as excitement filled her to the brim.

_I can't believe I've already made it to high school, even with all my mediocre scores. I'm lucky that I'm not completely stupid and didn't need to repeat any grades._

Finally,  _finally_  reaching the school gates, Takane all but collapsed onto the ground, struggling to quell her rapid-fire heart. There wasn't any moment to waste, though, and she quickly fished out the paper with her assigned room number and began a jog into the school to look for it.

There were still a few students walking around and scurrying to their own classrooms, giving Takane a flooding rush of relief; maybe she wasn't as late as she thought.

...huh, that was weird, why were some of them backing away when she came near? She wasn't going  _that_  fast...

Skipping in a rush by some windows, she got her answer. "Agh," she promptly groaned. Wow, her face looked pretty scary drenched in sweat. No wonder people were avoiding her. This sucked already.

Takane shook her head to stop the thoughts; did it even matter really? Those people probably wouldn't be her classmates anyway.

 _Classmates_... she felt the spring return to her step as her mind wandered just a little.  _Don't they say that these three years are the best in a person's life? Filled with drama, friends, and fun? I'm not too sure about the drama part, but I'm all for the friends and fun. It'll be much easier than before right? I mean, this time I'll actually be in a big class full of people who have conditions just like me!_

Takane smiled rather hugely at the thought, almost so much that her grin nearly blinded her and made her slip past the classroom with the same number as on the paper.

 _Here it is! s_ he thought gleefully. Smoothing out her plaid skirt and plain cardigan, Takane prepared her best bow along with her friendliest voice and turned the knob.

Takane stepped into the classroom and instantly bowed respectfully. "Hello? Sensei? I'm so sorry that I'm late, I just had... a lot to do last night! it won't happen again I promise." She stood there, head down, waiting for her new teacher's (hopefully not too angry) response.

"..."

"...um, hello? Sensei?"

"Don't worry," came a sudden voice, calm and much younger-sounding than an adult's voice. "Although you're almost late, Sensei isn't here yet. There isn't any need to be so nervous or jumpy."

Oh, what a relief! The very heavy weights of worry dropped from Takane's shoulders. She started to flip her head back up to scan the room for the person who had spoken. It had definitely come from a new classmate who was already seated with the rest of the class who had gotten here early.  _Ah,_  she was so excited-!

She opened her eyes fully, "Really? I'm lucky then, thanks! I'm Enomoto Takane by the way, nice to meet, all of-" -then dropped her school bag unto the floor in shock. "...you."

Blinking once -  _this classroom looks waaaay smaller than what I expected._  If she hadn't known any better, she could have probably mistaken it for a broom closet. She glanced at the walls; tattered posters were hanging off them, most of them not displaying any information or knowledge but rather really old student art. Stacks of chairs and worn out old tables were placed all around the room, along with other things that seemed to have been pulled from other classrooms and stuffed in there.

The only thing even remotely uplifting about the room were the windows. Unlike the classrooms she had rushed by to get her which usually had three sets of window panes at one side of the room, this room had one set of much larger sized panes placed right at the front. A large swath of sunlight poured onto the floor from it.

Blinking twice, her gaze followed the light - zeroing in on the desks. While there were only two of them, they still seemed to be the only things positioned properly in the room and not scattered about. One desk was already housing a student: a tall black-haired fellow facing forward with his back toward her.

...no way,  _no way!_  There was no way that this was the whole class. Picking her bag up tenaciously, Takane walked further into the room towards the boy at the desk.

"Um, sorry to be so upfront but... there are more students in this class, right?" she skittishly asked while peeking at every nook and cranny of the tiny room.

Still not turning around to look at her ( _rude,_  Takane couldn't help but think), he replied coolly, "I'm afraid that we're the only ones."

"Are- are you sure? Really, really sure? I mean there's got to be a few other students in this school with, ahem, conditions too right?"

"As I said before, yes, it's only us two."

"...are you really, really, really sure?"

"YES, I am," he snapped, yet still didn't turn around.

Flinching at his irritated tone, Takane stood silently where she was. Before long, her cheeks gradually burned into a disappointed scowl and she plunked into the empty desk. This day was definitely not going as hoped. " _Agh,"_ a whine irrupted from the back of her throat before she could stop it. Could anyone blame her really, when all the fantasies she had dreamed up over so many weeks about having high school friends and companionship were crashing into each other within seconds?

Before she realized what she was saying, it had already left Takane's mouth. "That's not fair. I wanted a big class, not just one other classmate. Why couldn't there be more handicapped kids born around here? Would it be too much to ask for a few car accidents or something to happen..."

She clamped a hand over her mouth, immediately regretting her words. "No, no, no, wait! I-I didn't... that came out wrong...-"

"That's not a very good thing to wish for if it's only so you'll have more classmates."

Twisting her head towards him, she watched with a guilty heart as the boy finally turned around to face her.

And he was glaring.

"I'm quite sure most people would actually say that having only two disabled people in an entire school would be a good thing. Don't go wishing misfortunate unto people for your own sake."

Feeling her spirits sinking lower and lower, Takane squirmed and fidgeted under the gaze of his sharp, judgmental eyes. However, as she took in the boy's appearance, she was able to momentarily forget about how bad she felt.

While his black hair looked even darker than her own, his skin was much,  _much_  paler than hers; he almost looked like a ghost. His eyes were dark and steady, and just underneath his left one was a small, but still very noticeable birthmark. He looked pretty focused and serene, totally unlike her, as Granny would be really quick to point out.

 _He's kinda cute_ , Takane thought bashfully, more embarrassment leaking into her already very remorseful words. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Hmph, let's hope you didn't."

As he began to turn away from her and back to whatever he had been doing previously (was that a sketchbook he was holding?) Takane riskily tried to lengthen their conversation. After all, it was her first one with her first (and sadly only) high school classmate. "So, uh, what's your name anyway? I told you mine," she blurted out awkwardly.

"Hmm? Ah, it's Kokonose Haruka," he answered swiftly, his strong tone replaced by a softer, more neutral one again.

"Kokonose  _Haruka._. hah..." Takane truly was terrible at controlling herself, failing to stifle the giggle she let slip out.

Haruka squinted his eyes at her quizzingly. "Is something the matter Enomoto-san?"

"Hehe, ah no, no sorry! Nothing's wrong, it's just...-" she scratched the side of her face coyly, "-...'Haruka' is usually a name given to girls."

"It is?" He tilted his head to the side as if this was completely new information. Suddenly, his eyes began to narrow again. "Are you making fun of me, then?"

Takane's hands flew out in front of her and she waved them in a frenzied apology. "N-no way! I didn't mean it as a bad thing, just that I don't know many guys named 'Haruka.' It's not a bad name at all! Sorry for laughing."

She stuck out a hand towards him, hoping to erase the scorn on his face. "Pleased to meet you Haruka! You can call me 'Takane'; since we're classmates now, there's no need for honorifics right?" She grinned as best as she could, despite still feeling significantly downhearted.

"I... suppose not." Haruka slowly reached out and lightly shook her hand, which Takane returned eagerly. "It's nice to meet you too, Takane _._ "

"That's the spirit!" Takane exclaimed. Satisfied with how their interaction had gone, she proceeded to start setting up her desk for when their teacher would eventually turn up. Once she had prepared and put everything in place, she spared another glance over to the boy next to her, deciding not to sit down just yet.

Feeling confident so far, she asked the question she knew she'd have to ask sooner or later. "So Haruka, since we're both in the 'special education' class, that means you have a condition too right?"

The brisk flow of his pencil to the sketchpad ( _I knew it!)_  stopped suddenly and he swerved his head towards her much quicker than she was expecting. "Yes, what are you getting at?" he asked with another set of cold eyes. Takane's hair went spiking up when she heard the sharp sound of his annoyed voice come back.

"Ack! I- I didn't mean anything bad! I just wanted to know what it was, because we'll be classmates and all, aha, ha..." She twiddled her thumbs and pulled at a twin tail. How did it get so tense again? She thought they were on good terms already...

"I'll even go first!" Takane raised up a finger and pointed at herself. "You see, I've got narcolepsy."

"Narcolepsy?" Haruka repeated and paused as if trying to remember what it meant. "Doesn't that mean you just sleep a lot? Is that really enough to count as a disability?" he accused aloud. However, it didn't faze Takane in the slightest; she had heard it dozens of people so many times in the past already and had been taught what to say in response a long time ago.

" _Actually_ ," she began to recite, "it means that I've got a chronic neurological disorder involving the loss of the brain's ability to regulate sleep/wake cycles. So uh like, I can fall asleep no matter what, _if_ the surroundings are relaxing enough. I have to take medicine for it or else I wouldn't be able to control when I'm awake at all. I used to fall asleep in class all the time before, haha."

Haruka cast down his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know how serious it was. I didn't mean to sound ignorant or-"

Takane quickly interjected."D-don't worry about it! It's not too serious actually. Sure, there's a bunch of other stuff that can happen, but usually, I just feel drowsy most of the day. Also, I take medicine for it, so it's all good! At worst it's just really annoying and made me fall asleep in class a lot, haha." She put on an encouraging smile, wanting to put him at ease.

"I see, then," Haruka muttered. "I'm glad, I guess."

"Thanks hehe, but now it's your turn~!" Takane pointed at him and winked humorously (or at least that's how she wanted it to be.) "What's your condition?"

Haruka frowned and shifted his eyes out the window. "It's a heart disease."

Eyes wide, Takane brought down her hand and dropped her smile. This time she didn't even about filtering her onslaught of questions first. "Woah, you for real? What kind of heart disease? Is it serious? How long have you had it? What's it called? Do take any med-"

Haruka brought his pencil down on his desk with a forceful thud, and just like that, Takane knew she had messed up again. " _That_  is none of your business, Enomoto-san. Please don't ask me anything else about it." Haruka said, biting voice returned and matched with another scowl directed right at her.

Shaking just a bit, Takane slowly sank down into her seat. "...ah, I'm sorry.."

Haruka exhaled and said nothing else to acknowledge that he forgave her, turning his eyes to his drawing once more and not looking back up. For once Takane could find no words to blab out and looked away too. She really shouldn't have said anything after their initial interaction, she knew.

Resigning herself to simply wait for their sensei in silence, Takane brought out her iPod (given to her by her parents on her birthday last year, one of the last times she had seen them in recent memory). She began playing some random song and slipped on her favorite headphones (given to her by Gramps during that same birthday, one of the last times she had seen him alive at all) in hopes of blurring out her discontent.

But as always, she was herself and couldn't control her last impulse. Peeking from behind her straight-cut bangs, she peered at Haruka just one more time. Her eyes fell upon and quickly drank in crow-colored hair, whiter than snow skin, and the small, almost endearing, slant of his lips, which could probably make a very nice smile if he tried. Takane found herself wanting to see it.

 _Huh, he really is kinda cute,_  she thought again, strumming her fingers on the desk in time with the music trilling in her ears.

* * *

Before Takane could even blink ten times, her first day at high school was over and the bell had rung to send them out. Their sensei (aka "The Sensei Who Had Been Ten Minutes Late On The First Day) had bowed to them and told them how excited she was for the school year before walking out of the classroom.  _She's a bit bland and her face is pretty forgettable, but I like her,_  Takane reflected.

Packing away her headphones along with first day assignments (ugh) Takane slung her bag over her shoulder and looked out the window at the orange-tinted clouds, hinting that the evening was just a few hours from arriving. Thanks to the enormity of the glass, it made their view of the schoolyard and the sky above spectacular.

To her delight and despite her rather crushing disappointment in the morning about their small class, the rest of the day had been quite nice.

Haruka seemed to have eventually forgotten about her insensitive questions surrounding his illness as the hours passed, and they even talked a few more times throughout the day, some Takane could even label as pleasant! She brought her hands to her cheeks: her face heated just by recalling the memories.

Though soon her face was glowing for a different reason as she remembered the actual best part of the day:  _she hadn't fallen asleep once_. Not once! Maybe it was the new medicine from her new doctor? She couldn't remember her name, Ayaka something? It didn't matter right now anyway, right now Takane wanted to jump for joy at such a success.

Still wanting to make the day end even better while also getting something rather important off her chest at the same time, Takane looked back into the classroom for Haruka. Luckily, he was still in the process of packing away his belongings and homework.

"Haruka!" she called. She did her best not to redden as he looked up at the sound of her voice and brushed some hair out of his face.

"Yeah?"

"Want to walk home together? I mean, as long as we live in the same area and you wouldn't mind some company."

His answer was immediate. "I'm sorry Takane, but I take the bus. My home is too far from here to walk on foot." With that, he stood up on his long legs (another thing she found she liked about him) and headed toward the door to leave.

 _Ahh man, this will make telling him this harder now._  "W-wait then! I have to tell you something before you go."

Haruka stopped his steps and turned back. "Alright, what is it?"

Takane took in a very deep breath, steeled her nerves, clamped her hands into tight little fists and looked him in the eyes as hard as she could.  _You can do this, you need to do this. N_ _o going back._

"I-  _I like you Haruka!"_

Slamming her mouth shut again, she closed her eyes and waited for what he would say next.

"...what."

"..."

_"What?"_

"Y-y-you heard me! I  _like_  you!" Takane opened her eyes and tried to cover her definitely red as a tomato face.

"..."

" _I-I-um,_ I watched an anime or read something somewhere, I dunno, that said you have to confront stuff like this the moment they come or else it gets really complicated and weird for everyone and I wanted to tell you as we walked home but then you said you don't walk home so you know, I thought it would be best to tell you now,  _you know..."_

Takane cringed as the avalanche of words crashed from her mouth with no way to rein it in. She clasped her hands completely over her face. "So... there you go. You can reject me now, it's fine."

"..."

The clock hanging on the wall ticked second after second, Takane listening to every one of them.

"...I'm not rejecting you."

Her head shot up from her hands, total shock written in her expression. "W-wait! Does that mean...? Are you accepting my confession!?"

" _No_ , I'm not accepting it either."

"What does that mean then?" Takane stomped a foot on the floor. Already it was so unnecessarily awkward and weird, she really shouldn't have said anything. Why, why, why did she say anything...

Her newly revealed crush brought a pale hand to his equally pale forehead. "It's just, I mean- why?"

"E-eh? What do you mean, 'why'?"

"Why do you like me?" He rephrased.

"I, I don't know- we're in the same class, you can draw very well, and you're cute-" she blushed and swayed as she spoke, "- and, and, well... that's it I think."

Haruka sighed. "Exactly. I'm definitely not an expert on these types of things, but even I know that this is an infatuation and nothing more. It wouldn't make sense for me to reject or accept something that's not real." He pulled his bag tighter to his body. "I have to go now. It's fine, just forget about what you said Enomoto-san, and I'll forget too."

Takane gaped in indignation. "Hey! You can't just say that like you know how I feel! So what if it's just a crush, it's real to me!"

"Really?" Haruka looked back at her and-  _wait_ was that a small smirk forming on his lips?! "I bet you'll feel different in a year, maybe even by next week."

"Will not!" Her hands clenched her elbows as she crossed them. "I bet that I'll feel the exact same way next week, by next year too!"

"No way."

" _Yes way!_ "

Haruka's smirk slipped from his features and he looked at her seriously. "You... are really determined with this aren't you?"

"Yup, I am," she replied with concrete certainty, eyes keen with resolve.

Haruka's stare fell from her to the floor, his brow creased in thought. "Alright then," he said, gazing back up at her. "Let's make a deal: we wait until our second year here and we'll see if you still feel the same way about me then. If,  _however unlikely_ that you still do, I'll decide whether or not I accept it. Is that fair?"

Thinking it over for a second, Takane nodded her head up and down. "Uhn! That sounds fair."  _At least he didn't laugh at me like I thought._ "I can wait for a year, no problem. I'll prove you wrong for sure!" With her nerves and confidence back at ease, she ducked her head a little. "Thanks, Haruka."

"Hn, good. I'll be off now. I'll see you tomorrow Enom-  _Takane_."

"See ya tomorrow," Takane waved, smiling giddily at him saying her name again. And with that, the tall boy was gone, his footsteps down the hall echoing back for her ears. Looking down at her hands, Takane gripped them on her bag strap. Walking over to the door and stepping out, she peered down the hall. Haruka was nowhere to be found.

"..."

Had it been the evening sun veiling over Takane's vision, or had Haruka genuinely smiled at her before he had left? She couldn't really see as it had been rather small.

 _Does it even matter?_  Takane thought she had seen it, so it must have been real. Even if it was only real to her.

Her own soft smile shown as brightly as the brand new feeling blooming in her chest. She turned back to look into the classroom one last time. When taking a more focused look at it, turns out it wasn't that small in comparison to the other rooms at all. It was only the excess clutter and lack of attention to the room that made it feel so cramped. Starting tomorrow, Sensei had said earlier, they would clean out the room until it looked just like the other classes, maybe even better.

Takane's only remaining complaint now was still the lack of peers to spend the days with ― but even that was in the midst of fading away from her mind; she would have Haruka sitting just at her right from now until they graduated. She would make it work.

_Today turned out great after all, so I'm pretty sure tomorrow will be just as good. Amazing high school life, here I come._


	2. A Day Spent Ta-Ta-Tara-Talking To You

_Some months later._

* * *

Soon enough, another certain day broke unto the world.

With the chirping, twittering sounds of birds in the wind, the air was cleanly crisp and filled up lungs delicately, making every breath one of satisfaction.

Sunny skies were up above and beyond, splashed onto the heavens like the deepest blue paint and the clouds were so white that they could very well just be fluffy spots of pure canvas peeking through.

People were smiling everywhere, happy and laughing without any cares in the world at all. One by one, their smiles kept on shouting 'yay, it's Monday!' over and over with no sign of stopping.

It was all so cheerfully bright and cheerfully loud and cheerfully  _irritating,_ not that anyone but Haruka seemed to see it.

 _Tch, isn't it supposed to be autumn right now?_  he thought peevishly as he walked off of the bus chock full of freakishly gleeful people.  _There's no reason for it to still be this warm._

The instant he stepped onto the pavement, the hot beams from the sun began their attack. Haruka pulled his light-green cardigan snugger to his body in hopes of blocking out the rays that were trying slip through the fabric to scorch his pale skin. ( _"Always keep yourself covered Haru, it's what's best to keep someone like you from getting sunburned,"_  his father always said.)

Setting off on his way to the school building in the same direction as a growing crowd of gathering students, Haruka did his best to stay behind and out of sight, sticking to the shade of the trees instead of out in the boilingly evil sun. Whenever a person seemed to be getting too close, he unconsciously took a step to the side.

Under no circumstances was he walking  _with_  them, after all. During the early days of the year, there had been a few times where he actually had to resort to glaring to get that point across. Although nowadays, it was rather contenting to find that a couple of months worth of distancing himself finally seemed to be paying off.

Alone with only his thoughts, Haruka could quite readily admit that the heated and painstakingly familiar trek to school (whose gates were just _almost_  within the reach of his already fatigued feet) was actually quite pleasant. The skin-searing sunshine was coloring the sidewalk a warm golden color and the leaves of the trees he was under were flashing a vivid, blazing green - another staple to how un-autumn it was.

Looking back at the sun dancing over the foliage as he stepped onto the high school campus, Haruka was already half-way done drawing the pretty scenery in his mind; with plans to start the line-art of the picture already forming...

" _Haruka!_ " banged a sharp, lively voice out of literally nowhere, shocking him out of his colorful daydream. "Hey, over here! Haruka! Hey, Harukaaa!"

Successfully rattled, Haruka had to take a moment to calm down the frazzled beat of his heart - although thankfully, very  _very_  thankfully not for the usual reason that it would be beating so erratically - to a more composed pace before stepping out into the sunlight once and for all, grimacing to the very depths of his soul.

_She's coming in fast, I give it about ten- no eight seconds. What's the game plan?_

As the seconds started to trickle themselves down, Haruka briefly, yet no less critically, scanned the area for any chance that he might be able to evade his only classmate as she began making her way towards him.

_Duck back into the trees? Blend into the crowd? Get on a bus back headed home?_

_"_ Haruka? _"_

Just as he was deciding on one of the options ‒ there she was right in front of him, the tell-tale grin on a short raven-haired girl blaring out thunderously. It seemed that his legs had malfunctioned and failed under him; he hadn't even moved for all those eight seconds and had just stood there watching her twin-tails bounce up and down while she had skipped over.

No, that would be absurd. Ridiculous. Maybe his calculation was wrong and it had really been four seconds? Or maybe she had just teleported when he made the mistake of blinking? Both of them were better explanations.

"Good morning!" the peppy girl greeted him, stepping over to his side so they could resume what used to be Haruka's solo walk to school. He rolled his eyes just so he wouldn't have to look into hers; her features were so bright (not helped at all by the sun) that he was sure he'd go blind and trip over something.

"Good morning, Takane," he replied back simply, a tired but accepting huff of breath escaping as he knew, like he knew every day, that there was no escaping his personal talking hurricane, and resigned himself to his troublesome fate once again.

_Let today's onslaught of earsplitting aggravation begin._

She didn't take very long to get started. "Hehe, look who has bed head," she pointed out as their legs began to move at the same pace Haruka had been walking ('snail-like' according to her. 'Safe' according to his father.) Reaching up to touch his so-called messy hair, Haruka speedily sent a hand to block her futile attempt.

"Awww come on, is that a new style or were you rushing to come to school this morning?"

He could practically taste the ' _and see me?_ ' she left out. Worse yet, the cheeky, almost innocent sideways smile she was now showing off had transferred the sun rays onto his own face, warming him up a few extra degrees. He really did hate the sun. And cheeky people.

Soon enough, an infuriating (yet all too familiar) prickle was crawling down his back, sprawling out to his elbows and knees, all the way into his wrists, right on schedule.

"Look who has bags under their eyes. Were you up playing video games all night again, or are they pasted under there permanently?"

The way her coy tone slipped off like a flimsy costume was magnificent (" _V_ _-video games, video games of course!"_ ); the way her twin-tails seemed to spike up on their own accord always a delight. Almost made him want to snap a picture for drawing reference so he could capture such perfect scene on paper later.

"It's not my fault you know, the latest version of Dead Bullet just came out yesterday. I had to get started as soon as possible."

"Aren't you completely awful at that game?"

"H-hey, I'm not that bad! 'Flash Dancer Ene' here's already ranked 20000th in the country!"

"That  _doesn't_  mean 'awful' to you?"

"C-can we just get to class already?!"

"That's my line,  _noisy_."

"Hmmmpph."

With puffed out enflamed cheeks, Takane marched ahead of him crossly. All of the sudden, Haruka wasn't feeling as irritated as he had been until then. Amused, even.

However... he couldn't get the prickling sensation squirming under his fingernails nor the voice whispering in his head out, no matter how he scratched and rebuked.

_This feeling..._

That _is not why. I_ _ **swear**_ _._

* * *

Thankfully, the feeling had settled down by the time noon had passed, banished right to the pit of his stomach. (His nearly empty stomach: the specially prepared, medicated food his father made him every day wasn't very filling, he lamented. It always left a seed of regret when he had to decline Takane every time she offered him lunch, even something as simple as rice balls.)

He was able to focus on more important things now. Like the only other thing more maddening than Takane's pitiful attempts at flirting: her  _constant_  obnoxious yawning.

Haruka himself really didn't know why he was so aware of it, but after the fourth yawn under the same minute, he couldn't fight the urge to keep it to himself any longer.

"Listen Takane, if you're going to keep yawning like that, could you at least do it on the other side of the room?" He turned brusquely while grasping his un-snapped (for now) pencil tightly. "I'd like to finish this math as soon and as stress-freely as possible."

"E-eh? Well, excuse me," Takane countered mid-fifth-yawn. "It's not my fault, narcolepsy remember?"

"I do, and I'd even fall for that excuse too if it wasn't for the all-nighter you pulled, which you are indeed responsible for." He wasn't backing down from this, not that he had a tendency to ever back down. "If you don't want to be called out for it, don't stay up so late. It's unhealthy anyway, most especially for you."

Takane's twin-tails sagged down and disappeared behind her shoulders. "Haaah, you sound just like Granny. Fine, fine sorry. I'll try not to yawn." Pressing against her cheeks as if trying to slap the sleepiness to a pulp, she turned back to her own homework and slipped her headphones on before she could hear Haruka's satisfied "Good."

Several minutes passed without a single yawn, and satisfaction coursed through Haruka, although  _now_  he had to ignore Takane quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) humming along to whatever she was listening to.  _Still better than before._  He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and watched her head wave back and forth slightly. The thought of reaching over to lift an earpad up to find out what the song was crossed his mind exactly once before being promptly squashed on.

(Good timing too. He could sense the dormant  _feeling_  trying to crawl back up and out of his stomach.)

Soon enough, Haruka was finished all the questions their sensei had assigned them before the principal had called her to the office out of nowhere. Takane seemed to be having a much harder time, however, as proven by the eraser flying up and down her page along with the frustrated way she was beating the melody of her music on her desk with a pencil.

 _Ditz_ , Haruka thought as he gazed at the poor girl seated at the only other desk in the room.  _I wanted to get started on that scenery, but maybe I should go over and help her out..._

For anyone's future record, that had been his plan. Honestly, it had. His foot was propped up ready to stand and get her attention and everything. But...

 _The lighting above her's pretty good_ , he was suddenly thinking, his pencil suddenly twirling in his hand, a blank sheet of sketch paper suddenly in front of him.  _A sketch or two won't hurt_ , he rationalized as graphite began it's dance across a fresh page,  _just to practice anatomy._

He was familiar enough with this craft that he didn't even need to look at the paper, unlidded eyes casually traveling through every stray strand bunched into the elastics tied around her hair. Not a single line escaped him: the outline of her bangs, the thin of her lips curving into an out-of-habit smile, the contrasting sharp point of a pert nose; it was all captured down and locked under his hands.

 _It's not half bad, but I've done better,_  Haruka thought just a little bit proudly as the completed rough sketch of Takane with her headphones on grinned stupidly up at him. (He could mostly ignore it as he felt the feeling clawing its way into his throat.)

Just as he was about to start shading her blank eyes a shiny black, he noticed that his pencil tip had dulled down to a stub. Trying not to feel vexed, Haruka got up to sharpen it over the trashcan in a corner of the classroom, shivering slightly from the breeze blowing inside from a single open window pane. Maybe autumn  _had_  finally chosen to show up.

Once the pencil end had been fully restored to its sharpened splendor, Haruka came back to his desk to resume finishing his draft.  _Maybe I'll color it fully, or would it look better staying black and wh-_

...

_-wh-where is it?!_

Sparks jolting over his skin, his hands felt positively clammy as his eyes stared at the alarmingly empty spot on the desk where it  _should have been_.

 _The wind must have blown to away,_ Haruka assumed, hating the wind along with the sun now. Scanning the floor and under his desk for the third time, Haruka tried to mix in calm with the impatience and anxiety stirring within. ' _Don't overthink, don't get too riled up over little things, don't care too much,'_ was what father always said after all.

_Maybe it was blown to the other side of the room past Taka-_

_Takane._

The gears in his neck moved stiffly (they might as well have creaked) when he turned his head over to her desk. There she was still sitting, for once completely quiet, her headphones having been pulled down from her ears.

She was holding a suspiciously familiar-looking piece of sketch paper in her hands instead of the math work and was staring at it so intently it might as well have burst into flames.

As his horrified mind was still processing the sight in front of him, Takane whipped her head around and was now looking up him with that exact same expression.

"Haruka..." she began to say, he guessed from the movement of her lips but not from the sound. His ears had completely frozen off at that point, along with the rest of his appendages.

"Uh..."

 _Oh God,_  was his only thought as his face went pale; going completely black and white just like the sketch.

"Did you draw this just now?"

"U-uh...!"

 _OH GOD,_  was all he could hear as his paralyzed mouth gaped wide open enough for his pathetic heart to leap right out. If his disease didn't kill him one day, _this_  definitely would.

"Its..." She clutched the paper to her chest. "It's amazing _!_ "

Faster than Haruka could even detect, she shot upright and shone a lighthouse-level smile right at him. "It looks just like me! You really are a good artist. I can't believe it. Just, just... oh _Haruka~!_ "

Just like that, the _feeling_  escaped from the depths of his weak body and curled all over Haruka's skin in searingly hot, painful waves. The only bright(er) side was that the sensation finally brought him back to his senses and out from the pitiful, word-stumbling shell. Flushed all over, desperate and disregarding everything he knew, he lunged forward with more speed and force than he thought was possible for him. _If Father was here to see,_ he _would be the one having a heart attack._

"Give that back!" His reaching hand was still shaking, probably from lack of fast-paced use. Takane didn't seem to have this problem and pulled back quickly enough.

"No way! I just got to see it. Besides, it's a drawing of me isn't it?"

"That doesn't matter." This time, Haruka was successful in his attempt at swiping it away, pinching on her cheek with just enough force to distract her.  _What a careless mistake, I should have never have drawn this. How will I ever live this down... She'll forget soon anyway, right? Everyone does eventually._

Clenching the paper to his front like a thousand lives depended on it, he reached for the bag hanging on the back of his chair, ready to shove the damn thing in it and out of sight forever. Like the way all of his of his art was supposed to be kept.

(Haruka was fully prepared to rip all of his fingers off and never be able to draw again if it guaranteed that Takane would never,  _ever_  see the numerous sketchpads he had at home that were filled to the brim with pictures just like the one scrunching in his hand. This incident had been embarrassing enough for one lifetime.)

She seemed to have other plans, like always. "Come on Haruka! Can I at least see it one more time? I just want to get one last look-!" A persistent hand tried grasping his wrist while the other one tried tugging at the paper.

"I- I said no already!" Haruka resisted and pulled away from her feebly until he lost complete control over his already unsteady balance and fell backward. He heard Takane yelp as she was pulled right down with him.

Hitting his back on the floor with a very sore thud ( _"Agh!"_ ), the pain only grew as Takane followed suit and slammed against him ( _"W-woah!"_ )

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow that hurt," she groaned as they both cringed at the pain. The impact had been so harsh that it surprised Haruka that there hadn't been any sort of bone-snapping noise. Haruka touched the back of his head, already knowing that a bump would soon form.

"You idiot, stupid, dumb Takane, if you could've just given it to me-" Haruka began saying and was just about to give her a true biting piece of his mind, only for his mouth to snap shut once he opened his irate eyes. Orbs awake and gawking, awareness was soon flooding in like a typhoon as he sucked in a breath at their new situation. Or perhaps for want of a better word, their new position.

Dark, stupefied eyes blinked in time with his, so near that he could see his own pupils dilate in their reflection. They both breathed in haggardly, chests rising together; bodies pushed up  _against_  one another.

"..."

Takane had fallen right on top of him.

(The escaped feeling evolved from waves to flames.)

_Takane had fallen right on top of him._

" **GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF** -" Haruka bellowed hysterically, pushing her way-too-close face and body away from him while trying to scoot backward enough to get to his desk, or out of the classroom, or off the face of the earth. Any one of them would do.

"Mpph, not, mpph, until, mphhh, you let me see it again!" she protested, as obstinate as ever. Even the shoving hand he was smushing against her mouth wasn't stopping her from wiggling back forward over him to grab the picture.

Instantly he zipped the hand still hooked onto the paper as far back behind his head as it could go without snapping off. "NO."

Just as Haruka felt his arm reach it's stretching limit and the hand of the determined girl just a few inches above him was  _so close_  to grazing the paper, the class door was flung open and their sensei came flying inside not a second later, sweat beading down her generic looking face.

"Takane! Haruka! I have some good and bad news! The reason the principal called me down was to inform me that we have to make an attra-"

It took a few seconds for the scene in front of her to reach her brain. Both Haruka and Takane blinked up at her mortified, the forgotten paper falling limply from Haruka's hand.

"-ction for the school festival in one week... ahhh...?"

"IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE SENSEI!" Takane shrilled several octaves above what the human race was supposed to be able to sing. They were so close that it shrieked right into Haruka's ears. He gave up right then and there, crumbling under the mountainous shame and slowly covering his hands over his face.  _Please tell me none of this is happening and I've simply gone crazy,_ he begged to anything and everything.

"W-we're ah, _crap_ , ah we're not-" Takane was still trying frantically to explain, although it did nothing to erase the kittenish look their teacher had developed.

"Oho, should I come back in a few minutes? Ahaha, I wouldn't want to ruin your joys of youth after all-"

"YOU'RE WRONG, WRONG! WAIT WAIT WAIT-" out hurled her blurry hands as she shot up to go stop their teacher from closing the door. The moment the panicking girl (who was no longer pressed up against him,  _thank every deity)_ rose up off of him, Haruka picked up the godforsaken paper and scrunched it into a twisted little ball, tossing it into the trashcan to die.

 _This girl_ , he realized while clasping at his painfully throbbing heart and trying to press the wayward feeling back inside from everywhere it had been scattered and almost seen,  _really is the absolute worst._

* * *

"HAHAHAHA, that seriously happened?"

"Unfortunately, yup," Takane said as the brown-haired woman sitting at the desk in front of them laughed her head, arms, and legs off.

"Aww man," she wiped a tear from her eye, "I really wish I could've been there to see that. Your poor, poor teacher... pfffft!"

"Don't you mean 'poor, poor' us?" Haruka raised an eyebrow. "We were the ones who were caught in a complete misunderstanding and have to suffer through the humiliation of it now."

"That makes it even funnier _, hah!"_

"Dr. Tateyama, it's not that funny! Please stop laughing," Takane pleaded, twin-tails spiraling out of control. "Can we just forget about it? It was hours ago anyway."

"Yes, **please** ," he agreed, scratching near the birthmark under his eye indignantly. The sooner both of them could forget about this little  _occurrence_ , the better the entire world was. He was already lucky enough that Takane hadn't asked for the picture again after clearing things up with their sensei. Whether she was holding in her tongue due to embarrasment at what had happened or shame from the thorough verbal beatdown he had given her after the incident, he would not object.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop talking. But don't assume I won't be thinking about it all the time, every day!" she teased with a clicking tongue.

For once Takane joined him in shooting their doctor the most venomous scowl they could showcase. _Is this lady really a professional doctor?_  Haruka always ended up thinking during their visits with her, starting once the school year began.

Dr. Tateyama Ayaka had volunteered to take the both of them as patients at the request of the high school. She now handled all their appointments and checkups on behalf of the hospital she worked at. She stayed in pretty close touch with their families and often visited them during class. Haruka could admit that she was actually pretty competent at her job...  _when_  she wasn't making herself out to be a completely insensitive buffoon.

At the start of each week, he and Takane were required to visit her in the nurse's office once the day was done to pick up weekly doses of their respective medicines. They were not required, however, to stay and chat with her before leaving for home, but Takane sure thought they should be.

"So then, how are you two going to go about making this attraction-booth-thing for the festival?"

"Oh, I already have it all in mind, doctor. It's going to be mind-blowing!"

"We're not doing it."

Takane's unnatural frown squirmed on top of her mouth. "For the fiftieth time, **yes** , we are!"

 _Annoying, annoying, annoying and stubborn like always,_  Haruka felt just as pissed off as those other forty-nine times. "Let me explain to once you again Takane: we have no ideas, no money, and two weeks. Even someone like you can deduce the answer to a problem as easy as that."

A black school shoe made a clacking sound onto the office floor as she stomped down. "But I  _do_  have an idea. I've been telling you all day: we'll host the biggest, most epic video game tournament ever with as many games as possible!"

"I meant we have no  _realistic_  ideas. There isn't enough space in the classroom for too many people, and I don't know what we'd do to keep them calm and quiet while they wait for their turn at the controls. Plus, there's only two of us; we wouldn't be able to control that many students, assuming anyone actually showed up."

Takane's cheer deflated and she fidgeted, searching and failing to find for more reasons to back her idea up.

"Why don't we just have a simple version of the tournament?" Haruka offered. "You can bring just one game instead of all of them, whichever one you want. We'll set it up in the room and just have whoever shows up play against each other. If only one person shows up at a time, they can just play against you. At the very worst, no one shows up at all, but I'm at least pretty sure that won't happen. Fair?"

Takane rubbed her arm. "I guess so... but, but that sounds so boring! The principal said that he wanted our booth to be unique 'cause we're Special Ed and all that crap, remember?"

"Too bad. I'd prefer 'boring' to 'impossible' any day of the week." He turned to Dr. Tateyama. "What do you think, ma'am?"

The woman tugged at her ponytail, twirling it around in thought. "I'll admit, Haruka's amendment does sound the most do-able. You wouldn't go wrong with a solid plan like that. Would provide decent enjoyment and blend in well with all the other booths."

"Exactly, so we'll just go with that and-"

"Buuuut - Takane's first idea does sound the most fun, honestly. I don't think I'd forget something like a giant video game tournament if I was a student at the festival, especially if I was a first year coming for the first time."

"See!" Takane jumped up. "We should do my idea, Haruka."

 _So much for thinking anyone in this room would see reason._ Haruka crossed his arms and frowned at her, his temper at its end. "Face it, Takane. Not even your obsession with video games will carry a tournament that big. Either pick something easier or tell Sensei we can't do it."

"No! There's no way we can let Sensei down like that. It's wasn't her fault that the principal changed his mind so late and didn't give her any money," Takane was quick to get up in his face and protest, but then downcasted her eyes and shifted around uncomfortably. "I don't have any other ideas, though."

Haruka paused. It was now his turn to look at the floor. "...I have an idea, actually."

"What, really?!"  _Are her twin-tails actually floating?_  "Why didn't you tell me all those times I asked? Come on, let's hear it!"

"...we could hold a shooting gallery..."

Floating turned to bristling in less time than a heartbeat. " _EH_?! And you think my idea is too hard? We would actually need to build stuff and buy a fake gun and so much else if we did that!"

"W-well excuse me for seeing it on television once and thinking it was cool because that's all I have either, _"_  Haruka retorted, much more than a little flustered.

"Hhhhmmmpph, well then I-"

"Hey, now," Dr. Tateyama interjected their argument, standing up and clasping her hands together. "Why don't we compromise?"

"Huh?" they both asked, turning their heads to her in unison. "What do you mean, doctor?"

"I mean-" the woman circled around her desk, the ends of her white lab coat fluttering behind her, "-how about you host a video game shooting gallery?"

"Ha _h?"_

She gestured excitedly. "Think about it: it combines both of your ideas equally, won't be terribly expensive, and won't be too hard to control or gather participants for since we'll keep this shooting game as only a two-person-thing."

Both students stared at her and spun the idea 'round and around their minds.  _It sort of makes sense, almost,_  Haruka realized. "Where would we find a free shooting gallery video game?"

"Fufufu, fear not young Kokonose-kun!" The adult flashed a self-satisfied grin, tapping on the pair of glasses clipped to the front of her lab coat that they had yet to see her wear. "Once upon a time I learned how to code from a very special someone;  _I'll_  make the game for you and Enomoto-chan! You two are my absolute favorite, most precious patients after all."

While it made Haruka want to scoff in disbelief, Takane seemed to have sold onto the idea whole-heartedly. "You're serious Dr. Tateyama, you'd do that for us? Thanks so much! You're the greatest doctor ever!"

She winked pretentiously. "I am, aren't I?"

The urge to roll his eyes was really becoming hard to suppress, so Haruka didn't and let his eyes roll a full circle around. "What would the jobs for Takane and I be, then?"

"Well, I think it'd be obvious what Takane would do; she would be the one to take on the players."

"Woohoo!" Takane exclaimed and was nearly shaking from her excitement.

"You're not very good at first-person shooter games, though," he knew he needed to remind her. "Dead Bullet proves that."

"I'm 20000th in the country!"

"Exactly."

" _Haruka._ "

"That's perfectly fine, both of you can take turns playing the challengers so it'll be even," Ayaka tried to mediate.

"Yeah, no," Haruka answered passive-aggressively, earning a cry of protest from the girl at his side. "I don't play video games at all so I'd probably be worse than her."

"First of all;  _ **hey**_. Second; I can do it all on my own actually! I'll be practicing with Dead Bullet nonstop for the next week. Just you watch, I'll be the absolute best at it in no time."

She pointed an adamant finger at Haruka just to express her resolve even further. All his other (many, many) complaints folded back under his tongue when he saw how determined and fired up she looked.  _So she really wants to do this, huh..._

"Suit yourself then."

"Are you sure, Takane? Keep your condition in mind; it could really affect you if you overwork yourself. Do you think you can manage it?" Dr. Tateyama asked seriously, sounding more like an actual doctor than she had for the entire conversation.

"Don't worry," Takane affirmed. "I've never let it bring me down before and I'll be extra careful, so please don't worry about me, you guys."

It seemed to be enough for the woman to accept. "Alright then, but I'll be making sure to check your health more often for these two weeks. Now," she turned towards Haruka, "that leaves us a question: what will Haruka do?"

"Oh! He's a really good artist, so maybe he could draw the game characters for you to animate?" Takane piped up before Haruka could even start thinking about the options himself.

"He-hey! Don't decide for me!" he demanded, embarrassed. "But, ah.. sure. Why not."

Dr. Tateyama clapped her hands together once and twice, the quick sounds echoing throughout the nurse's office. "It's settled then; I'll be the coder and you two will be the illustrator and the player. I'll get in touch with your sensei to make sure she knows what we're doing."

"As for prizes, will a couple bags of simple things like candy, chips, and soda be good enough? If we all pitch in they won't cost too much," she stated while running a finger down the side of a framed fish fossil hanging on the wall. Haruka could vaguely remember her telling them that she used to be an archaeologist or something like that in the past.

"Alright."

"Sounds awesome!"

"Excellent," Dr. Tateyama Ayaka declared with no further doubt. "Now that that's all settled, it's time to get working. We'll meet again after school tomorrow to discuss this further, okay? Not sure about you two, but I've got a family at home I need to feed, haha."

Bowing down and thanking the doctor for her support and encouragement (Takane made a much bigger show of it like always), they bid her goodbye and left the office with their pill bottles in hand.

His short, ebony-haired classmate's cheerful skip echoed down the empty hallways. "This is going to be really fun. Y'know for a second there, I was actually worried that we wouldn't find a way to pull it off, ahah. But we did, so today was definitely a win. Don't you think so?"

"I guess." Unlike her, he really  _had_  thought they had no chance of accomplishing it and now that they did (or at least a guideline of what to do), it seemed a bit less impossible. "At the very least, it actually seems possible now."

"Uhn..." she muttered, almost to herself. Slowly, her jovial steps began to die down until she was normally walking, and then she stopped altogether.

"Ah-" he turned around in confusion, "-Takane?"

"Do you actually want to do this?" Her voice was clear and calm, for the first time he had heard from her that day. Her eyes bore into his steadily. "You didn't say so directly, but it really seems like you don't want to. Listen, if you truly don't want to be a part of this, I'd never force you to help; I'll gladly tell Sensei and Dr. Tateyama that we can't, and it won't be our problem anymore."

"..."

"Or I guess I could try doing this by myself, but you know better than anyone that I'd never be able to pull it off, heh."

"Takane..." His words trailed off, his eyes unblinking. Her sudden statement had left Haruka and his whole body feeling stunned.  _Did_  he want to do this? The question hadn't even appeared to him until now, he had just been focused on why they wouldn't be able to do it.

_It would mean disrupting my schedule, probably worrying Father a whole lot, and spending even more time with Takane..._

His train of thought faded as he kept looking at her,  _really_  looking at her on the outside and straight into the eyes. He had read somewhere that the eyes were the windows to the soul. He wondered how Takane's soul would look like it that was true.  _Just based on her eyes, it'd probably look ditzy, nosy, spacey... but most definitely strong._

Haruka found himself wanting to see it.

_...more time with her, huh..._

His mouth was moving before he was out of his trance. "...you're wrong, I do want to do this."

Takane pursed her lips. "Are you sure? You kept complaining and saying that we couldn't and how my ideas were all bad...?"

An incredulous exhale came easily. "That's because I'm  _me_ , Takane. You of all people should know how cynical I am by now. I guess I was just being even more pessimistic with this because it felt like we were being pressured to do this by the adults without any forewarning. But now that I'm really thinking about it, in all honesty, it really does sound interesting. Something worth trying out, something to make a colorful high school life, something  _you_  would say, etc. etc."

"Ahh, now you're getting it!" she smiled, cordiality returning to light up her features. Haruka couldn't help a sense of a calm ease bloom as he saw it happen.

"Don't go expecting this kind of talk and action from me too often," he warned mildly. "As much as I don't want to, I really do have to monitor myself when things like this arise. You already know this, but my illness is a lot more...  _limiting_  than yours is. I can't do a lot of things."

Haruka looked down at his shoes. He really didn't like bringing this topic up, hated it even and only grew to dislike it more when his words halted Takane's transformation back to her normal happy-go-lucky self, drooping her glowing image and making her look sad. It made him disgustingly sick like nothing else in the world could.

However, he didn't see her next action coming at all.

"You can't let that stop you, Haruka," Takane urged persistently with a newfound purposeful stance, grabbing one of his hands with both of hers and squeezing desperately. "I know there are things that really can't be helped but if you really want to do something, if you  _need_  to do something and it's important to you, do it! Don't let anything hold you back ever, hesitance won't do you any good at all."

Staring at the small hands forcefully clamped down on his, up to the determined yet supportive vibe painted all over her face, down and up, up and down in an endless loop, Haruka had effectively lost all control and was now stumbling over his words and while trying to pick them up at the same time.

"Ah- hah, o-okay. I understand uh... y-you can let go now!"

She didn't need to be told twice and let go gently, allowing Haruka to swiftly put his hand back to his side. It only took a few internal breaths to force the growing, red  _feeling_  swimming inside his tight fist to stay there and only there, even for only a little bit longer. If he didn't, he couldn't be sure that it wouldn't immediately spring up and try to drown him out from the inside.

"I'm glad you're on board then, ehehe, because now there's no going back," the fellow ravenette announced with a mischevious glint hidden in her irises. "We'll have to work night and day to get this video game shooting gallery finished and successful. That also means you can't turn down my offers of coming over to play video games anymore, 'cause I'll need you to help me practice."

"Oh, joy." The familiar use of snark-filled deadpan helped to ease Haruka's still open-ended nerves. It was countered by a joyous grin that he knew could only be generated by the unbelievable person in front of him.

"Don't you worry; I'll be right there by your side to make sure it'll be fun."

Feeling the loud warmth radiating from her washing over him, Haruka thought that maybe-  _just this once_ \- that indulging her silliness wouldn't be so weary to do.

"I'm sure as well," he voiced, simultaneously giving a little, genuine smile of his own, timider than he would ever want.

_Maybe this feeling isn't as bad as I thought._

Maybe it was okay to show this part of him from time to time, the part that felt.

_Or maybe I'm an even bigger idiot than she is._

Even so, Haruka no longer had any complaints as he felt the bright, glowing feeling free itself from the cage in his hand, glide up through his entire body, and finally into the dark, bleak, empty cavity in his chest where a healthy heart should have been beating. It seemed to be doing a good enough job of replacing it for now.

 _Huh, how extraordinary_ , was his only thought as they both walked out of school and into the setting autumn sun.


End file.
